Blasting pot / media consumption

[6ply]

I need a way of cleaning up old tools and parts (nothing larger than a big bench vice) that doesn't use an angle grinder and wire brush. I don't have space for a blasting cabinet but I do have plenty of sheltered space just outside my garage workshop to use a pot blaster. If I link a couple of compressors I should be able to manage 18+ CFM. Maybe more if I recommission an old compressor that's doing nothing at present. I would like to use an aggressive media (iron silicate?) and for the small / occasional jobs I do I wonder if I can just use a total loss system where I sweep up and dump any blasted grit. Whether that proves economically viable depends on how much grit I'd use, so could anyone with experience suggest roughly how much media I'd use to blast a vice or small trailer wheel, etc?

My next question is whether there's any significant difference between the budget pot blasters. Switzer and Clarke have a small price difference but basically look the same.

 

[frank horton]

mine pot is a cheap n nasty, bought almost unused....a Chinese copy think I paid 50squids.....done tons of work.....
vintage chassis's and whole tractors.....
as for the media I just used kiln dried sand....nothing else available and to expensive to post.....
I always kept some used sand back for use in the cabinet as anything cleaned in there was on the delicate side.....
did buy a load of ceramic nossels as the steel one that came with it was hopeless......
def go used there's nothing to go wrong.......save some money....

 

[Erie Fred]

Nozzle chart will tell you for a given CFM, what size to use.
Using this, will also tell you how much abrasive will be used per minute/hour.

 

[Dcal]

Blasting will work but might be a bit aggressive.

I've had great results with citric acid.
It will etch the surface but not as much as blasting, unless of course you forget about it and in that case it will dissolve steel.

 

[6ply]

Blasting will work but might be a bit aggressive.

I've had great results with citric acid.
It will etch the surface but not as much as blasting, unless of course you forget about it and in that case it will dissolve steel.

Aggressive is what I want.

I normally use a scraper, wire brush on an angle grinder, or needle scaler for the stubborn stuff.

I'm fed up with looking like a pin cushion.

For more delicate stuff I'll try crushed glass.

 

[brightspark]

Aggressive is what I want.

you wouldnt be saying that if you took it to some blasters and they lace it with chilled iron shot '@ 90 psi .250 cfm